How to Market Like a Boss in 2018

New year, same marketing campaigns? We’ve dedicated the month of January to help salons and spas refresh some of the biggest pain points in their business. Here’s how you can slay your spa or salon marketing in 2018 to attract new clients, retain current clients, and of course, increase your bottom line.

Get Organized

The first step to any successful marketing campaign is getting organized. Creating a clear marketing plan for the year (or at least, quarterly) will provide you enough time to implement and adjust as necessary. Base your promotions on the success of your 2017 campaigns. While you don’t have to create marketing collateral for the whole year right now, give yourself at least 4-6 weeks before a promotion or event to ensure every detail has been fully flushed out.

5 questions to ask when planning a marketing campaign:

How will this campaign support your overall marketing plan?

What are you hoping to achieve with this campaign?

How will you measure success?

What is the budget for this campaign?

Which communication channels (social, email, etc.) will you use?

Looking for inspiration? If you need help finding the best days of the year to plan promotions and maximize sales, download our free 2018 salon and spa marketing calendar, which will give you an action plan for the entire year.

Be Part of the Conversation

As consumers, we’re tired of hearing the same marketing message over and over: “We’re the best and you should buy our products.” In the age of the self-informed consumer, selling needs a new approach and that’s where contextual messaging is key. For example, Tesla spent 1/190th of the advertising budget of Mercedes and outsold them by 3x, why? Because instead of telling people to buy their cars, they became part of the conversation about living free of fossil fuels — an issue that consumers care about.

If you’re looking to refresh your marketing strategies in 2018, try adding your voice to issues consumers care about such as organic products, sustainable ingredients, skin cancer prevention, animal cruelty, and more. Ways you can incorporate this into your marketing:

Blogging. Write about specific products or trends that your clients care about and add it to your newsletter or email blasts.

Case studies. Ask a client to start using a product and track the results (i.e. a serum for fine lines and wrinkles or a hydrating hair repair mask). You can then use the before and after to help promote your retail as well as your services.

Videos. Create videos speaking to the benefits of products you sell with some facts that “poke the bruise”; “One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime. Here’s our new line of SPF moisturizers that will fully protect your skin from harmful rays.”

By becoming a part of the conversation, your expertise builds trust with your clients. Building trust helps foster an army of loyal clients who are willing to spend more money, try new services, as well as promote your business to peers.

Personalize Your Content

Studies show that the average consumer is exposed to up to 10,000 brand messages a day. As a result, businesses must find new ways to break through the noise. That’s where client data comes into play.

Adding Names

Recent studies on brain activation, reveal there are few things that light us up quite like seeing our own names. Our names are connected to our self-perception and identity. As a result, we as consumers become more engaged and even more trusting of messaging where our name appears.

List Segmentation

When it comes to marketing, crafting a message is not always one-size-fits-all. Are you utilizing segmented marketing? Creating content that’s specific to each client demographic can help you personalize your message and appeal to the different wants and needs of your clients.

Think about it: A busy mother of three is not going to have the same desires as a 20-something millennial. Take the time to divide your clients into different “personas” based on what they need from your business. Once your clients are segmented, you can now craft specific messages for each of your marketing campaigns.

Create More Videos

While videos are not a new medium, mobile devices have greatly changed the way we consume video. Now a powerful marketing tool, 2018 should be the year you add more video content. Take a look at some of these facts:

90% of users say that product videos are helpful in the decision process

Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined

By 2019, Internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer Internet traffic

Videos are easily digestible and can be used in all of your marketing channels including social, blogs, emails, and more. Marketing research reveals the most effective types of video content are customer testimonials and tutorial videos.